Under-achieving Puel destined for Lyon exit

Club officials will accompany Puel to a hearing of the legal affairs committee of the French Professional League (LFP), where a 'conciliation hearing' will lay the groundwork for his dismissal.

The meeting, confirmed by sources close to the club, will map out grounds for the termination of Puel's contract a year before its scheduled expiry date, which could earn him up to four million euros ($5.8m) in compensation.

Remi Garde, the current head of OL's youth training centre and a former club captain, has been widely tipped to assume control of first-team affairs.

Puel had arrived from Lille in June 2008, with a salary estimated at 250,000 euros per month and more wide-ranging powers than any previous manager in the club's history.

Three years on, the parting of ways between the 49-year-old and the club has become inevitable, the disillusionment surrounding the 2002-2008 French champions manifest in the exasperation of the Stade Gerland supporters.

While the fans have lamented the failure to win a major trophy since the 2008 Ligue 1 title, they have also deplored the poor quality of football produced by their side.

Lyon may have secured a third-place finish in 2010-11, earning them a place in the play-off round for next season's Champions League, but the relationship between fans and the coach has been strained for months.

Champions League qualification was the club's principal objective, but Lyon's start to the season was catastrophic and they found themselves in 18th place after a 1-0 loss at home to local rivals Saint-Etienne in the 100th Rhone Derby on September 25.

Puel's future was the source of heated conjecture in the weeks that followed and at one stage he appeared set to be replaced by Leonardo, who had yet to be taken on by Inter Milan following his sacking by AC Milan.

Lyon's fortunes may have experienced an upturn, with the club reaching the Champions League knockout phase for the eighth season in a row, but the atmosphere around Puel remained remarkably hostile.

The 'Bad Gones' supporters group were the main culprits, notably stringing up around 50 banners bearing the legend 'PUEL RESIGN' in strategic locations around the Lyon area in the autumn.

The banners returned during the final home game of the season, a 0-0 draw against Caen on May 21, with a virulence that not even club president Jean-Michel Aulas, long Puel's sternest ally, could dismiss.

Criticism of Puel's methods, however, was not a new phenomenon.

Doubts emerged in the earliest days of his tenure, as observers remarked upon a style of play that bore little resemblance to the all-out control exerted by Gerard Houllier's swashbuckling OL side of the mid-2000s.

Puel's forays into the transfer market have also been unconvincing, despite a sum of 160 million euros being invested in new recruits since 2008.

Not a single player brought to the club in that time has been sold at a profit, undermining a successful business model that had been built on shrewd signings and money-spinning sales.

Lyon remain one of France's biggest clubs, and a force to be reckoned with in Europe, but fans will expect better football, better results and -- most importantly -- more trophies from Puel's successor.